If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this, and the introduction to the Psalms for this book of the Bible in particular.
12 July. Psalms 80-85
Psalm 80 uses the metaphor of a vine for the people of Israel and Judah. God had planted it in the Promised Land, had fed and watered it so that it grew to cover a large area like a spreading cedar tree. But enemies had come and pruned it back and burnt it. It survived, damaged, but they called on God to come and deal with their enemies, and care for his vine again so that it could grow back.
The same metaphor is used in many places through the Bile, including in some of Jesus’ parables. The image of a vine is of a plant that spreads out in all directions – randomly by nature, but easily trained. From a single root, if well watered, fruit can emerge a long way from its origin, and all that fruit will be the same because it depends on a common source of nourishment and belongs to the same plant (as we would say today, shares the same DNA). Viens also live a long time – centuries, sometimes.
Some of these Biblical images are positive like that, others are negative – Paul wrote of gentile Christians being “grafted in” to the original vine, while Jesus for good reason used the juice of the vine – wine – as a symbol of his blood that was about to be shed for our salvation. But he also spoke of a vine that is under threat of being cut down for not producing fruit, and a whole vineyard planted by God that has been neglected by those who were meant to be tending it.
The lesson from this is that individual believers or congregations who think only of their own spiritual life, their own experiences, are cutting themselves off from the root and source of nourishment, and also from the others who share it. “You can be a Christian without going to church” may be true in one sense, but it is like saying “you can be a grape without growing on the vine”. You may look nice in the fruit basket one day, but a week later you will be shrivelled and spiritually dead.
The constant call of Scripture and the Church is to remain in the vine, to draw from the roots of our faith in the Bible, but also to draw water through the vine that is the network of Christians in our own area and connected throughout the world. Yes, there will be divisions in the Church over many issues, and sadly this has resulted in there being many different plants in Christ’s vineyard that are no longer connected with each other, but they still draw their nourishment from the same source, and share the same DNA. As the common liturgy puts it, “We are one body because we all share the same bread” (and drink the same wine, the fruit of the vine).